The Gods of Death
by shadow74236915
Summary: Gods aren't really immortal; they may live longer than a human (a lot longer), but there comes a time when even a god dies. Still, somebody has to take over... which is where our three heroes come in. 'Tres Leches'-centric pairing; Rating may change; T for now.


**Tell me right now that you do not love 'The Book of Life'.**

**Can't say it?  
><strong>

**Of course you can't; this is an amazing movie.**

**_HOWEVER_: One of the things that irks me is that Joaquin never managed to fall in love himself. Sure, he parties with Manolo's twin cousins who fought in the Revolution (and won!), but... they leave after Dia de Los Muertos is over. That's it; nothing comes of that relationship for him.  
><strong>

**So... what if Maria also wanted him along with Manolo? And what if both boys loved each other as well?**

**Well, there's the pairing.**

**Now, for the actual plot... That remains. For now, enjoy the fluff.**

**I DO NOT OWN 'THE BOOK OF LIFE'**

* * *

><p>"Hey! La Mu- I mean, Ms. Tour Guide Lady!" La Muerte turned around to see the five children from the week before running up to her.<p>

"Oh my! I didn't expect to see you again so soon!" she laughed.

"Can we please hear another story from... _The Book_?" the boy with the mohawk asked. La Muerte smiled warmly, glad to see the children take an interest in the history of her people.

"Of course you can. Just follow me and-... I apologize, I've never gotten your names yet..." she admitted, embarrassed. The children seemed surprised, but gave their names.

"I'm Jay," said the boy with the hawk.

"I'm Rodney," introduced the boy with the blonde, curly hair.

"My name is Nora," greeted the girl with black hair.

"Susie!" the littlest yelled happily.

"And I'm Zeke!" the boy with purple hair said. With introductions set(1), La Muerte led the kids through the invisible doorway into the dark hallway. Once no one could see the six, La Muerte transformed back into her original form.

"Since you already know, I feel no reason to keep the disguise up," she explained.

"La Muerte! What are you doing out of-... oh, another story, I see..." La Muerte laughed lightly as she kissed the top of her disguised husband's head. He was in a different form than the one the kids first saw him in; rather, he looked like a familiar character to the five children.

"You look like Manolo!" Nora exclaimed. Xibalba grinned.

"Nothing wrong with getting into a new look every once in a while; besides, Manolo never minds very much." He walked beside his wife to the Mexican exhibit. The children immediately noticed it was different as well.

"What's with all the red flowers?" Jay asked.

"The exhibit is being redone to celebrate _Navidad _in a month or so, since _Dia de Los Muertos _is over now. We only just started to receive the decorations, with the flowers being the first shipment. We should be fully set up by the time December comes around," La Muerte clarified. It fell on deaf ears, as the children had run over to The Book of Life in their excitement. She laughed as she watched the Book dance around them in happiness._  
><em>

"The Book seems to enjoy the attention," Xibalba commented.

"Why wouldn't it? It hasn't been this sought after for decades..." The duo climbed the steps, and the Book returned to it's pedestal. "Now, what story would you like to hear today?"

"What happened to Joaquin?" Zeke asked. "Like, yeah Manolo ended up with Maria in the end, but Joaquin was a good guy and he didn't end up with anyone!" La Muerte and Xibalba shared a look of amusement.

"Funny... _that _story follows directly after the last one I told you. Would you like to hear what happened to the Three Amigos after the wedding?" She was answered with frantic nods, and she laughed again. "Alright Book, you know where to go." The Book flipped through it's pages until it ended up showing a picture of Joaquin and Manolo standing at the edge of the wedding party.

"_'The Three Amigos had finally been reunited, and the party was in full swing...'_"

...

..

.

Manolo sighed in happiness as he watched his new wife dancing with the citizens of San Angel. She was truly too good for him, no matter what.

"Like I said days ago... may the better man win her heart." Manolo turned in surprise to see Joaquin standing beside him.

"Hey, _mi amigo_. I thought you were hanging out with _mis primas_ over there." He pointed to the Adelita Twins hanging over on the side across from them. Joaquin shrugged.

"I was... but remember what the wing-guy and skeleton-chick said? Your cousins were only gonna be here for this one night... so, I decided I might not try to get to close to them, because they would just leave me within the next few hours anyways..." Manolo sighed.

"I understand... _mis padres _are also leaving tonight..."

"I'm... I'm sorry about your father, by the way... I should've been there to at least help him, but I was too busy trying to marry Maria..." Manolo put a hand on his friend's shoulder in comfort.

"It's not your fault, _mi amigo_. You did not know he was in trouble until it was too late. Coincidentally, him dying probably allowed me to finally gain his respect and approval of me."

"What do you mean?"

"... I didn't tell you guys?" Manolo asked quizzically. Joaquin quirked an eyebrow.

"About what?" Manolo laughed nervously.

"Um... did I tell you about how I died?" Joaquin slightly stiffened.

"Don't talk about it; I don't even want to think about... about losing not just her, but the _both _of you..." Manolo winced in sympathy, but decided it was best to omit his death.

"Well, to make it back, I made a bet with Xibalba that I could defeat every single bull that my family ever defeated..."

"That doesn't sound _too _bad."

"...all at the same time."

"...are you serious, dude?"

"Not even kidding."

"How the _hell _did you manage that?!"

"Well, somehow, all the bulls, like, turned into this one, _huge _bull, okay? Like, the size of San Angel for crying out loud! It knocked itself out after I dodged a charge, and I had the opportunity to finish it with my blade."_  
><em>

"Did you... did you finally overcome your fear?" Joaquin asked in a whisper.

"No."

"But then... how did you win?"

"I apologized."

"...say _what_?!"

"I apologized to the beast for my family killing it throughout the generations. I always said that it was wrong to kill a bull after you have beaten it, and I still won _without _killing, didn't I?" Joaquin chuckled.

"Well, with or without killing it, I'm happy you are back with m-us." Manolo smiled back, happy he was back as well.

"Yeah... so _mi padre _somehow realized that, yes, a Sanchez man _can _apologize... and he did."

"I'm happy your parents are back together again, after many years... I remember when the news that your mother died had hit: all three of us spent the night under the tree, crying our eyes out."

"It was... it was hard, wasn't it?"

"For me, it was difficult to get through; I can't even imagine how it affected you."

"...let's just... focus on the here and now, agreed?"

"Agreed."

...

...

"Manolo! And Joaquin too! What are you two doing?! We have a fiesta going on, and here you two sit, gossiping like old women!" Maria play-scolded her husband and best friend.

"For once, men are doing more than just sitting in comfortable silence, and it is ruined." Manolo scoffed jokingly.

"We were having _such _an good conversation as well..." Joaquin sighed in mock-pity. Maria smirked.

"Well... could little old me join in on the discussion? Or should I just bow out, due to the topics being nothing but the size of your mustache?" Joaquin winced.

"Ooh, that was low, Maria." Manolo laughed at the duo's antics, and stood up.

"The topics are rather about what happened while the three of us were separated. While I could always stay for the _final _of the _fiesta_, I'm feeling exhausted from fighting Chakal, fighting the bulls all my ancestors have defeated, climbing a giant cliff, running through a maze while avoiding giant boulders, and... well, _dying_. So, I think I'll head back to my house, if you two don't mind." He walked off, waiting to see Maria's reaction.

"You did _what_?!" Manolo turned his head to her, and smirked.

"Oh, I didn't tell you?"

...

...

"...and so there I was, suddenly feeling blood rushing through my body, and breathing in air again, and then I just shot straight up through the air, and that was when you guys saw me land that punch on Chakal's face." The trio of friends were sitting in Manolo's house, vacant due to his last two living family members having died already. The three were currently sitting in the living room, pillows piled all around them to make a fort, just like when they were kids.

"That was pretty epic, dude." Joaquin complimented. Maria rolled her eyes.

"Men..."

"Don't be like _that_..." Manolo whined. "You know you still love me."

"Regardless of my love for you, Manolo, I think it's time we went to bed." Joaquin stood up and headed to the door, wading through the sea of pillows. "Excuse me; where do you think _you're _going?" Joaquin turned to Maria in surprise.

"Um... this is your guys' house now... and you're married...so, I mean, I'm not gonna be the kill-joy or anything..." Maria scoffed and leaned forward to grab his hand before yanking him right back into the middle of the pillow fort.

"No no no, mister; you're staying right here with us."

"B-but... but..."

"We have been apart for too long, and I am _not _going to let you walk out on us like this, understand?"_  
><em>

"Don't worry, _mi amigo_; it'll be just like when we were kids sleeping over at each other's houses!" Manolo chimed in, having the same thoughts as his wife. Joaquin hesitated for a moment more, then relented.

The three were fast asleep within minutes, the day's events finally taking it's toll.

...

...

"...mnh... n-no... Mano... why did you-...Maria... no-no-no-NO!" Joaquin shot up like a bullet, gasping and sweating from his nightmare. Not fully awake, and unable to comprehend his surroundings, he failed to notice Manolo and Maria sleeping next to him. Instead, he crawled over to a corner of the room, and huddled up into a shaking, wide-eyed statue.

...

_"He had nightmares?" Rodney asked with pity. La Muerte nodded sadly._

_"He watched both of his friends, the last people he shared a bond with, die with him unable to do anything; even the bravest man would weep like a baby..."_

...

This was the sight Manolo woke up to thirty minutes later.

"Jo... Joaquin?" Manolo blearily asked as he sat up. "A-are you alright?" He might as well be talking to a brick wall for all the reaction he got. "M-Maria! Get up, quickly!" Maria groggily sat up, but she was wide awake the moment she saw Joaquin.

"Jo... Jo! Joaquin! Wake UP!" she yelled. Joaquin blinked, and looked up to see his two friends staring at him.

"Mano... Maria..." His eyes suddenly teared up, and he began to cry.

Manolo and Maria were at a loss.

"I-I-I saw you two... and the snake, Chakal, the bomb... and no matter what, I-I-I couldn't save you two. YOU KEPT DYING IN FRONT OF ME, AND I WAS FORCED TO WATCH IT ALL!" Joaquin burst into tears, weeping over seeing his friends die over and over again. "Y-you two were the only ones who kept me going after _papa_ died... a-a-and if I was to l-lose you two... I... I couldn't... I'd just..." He broke off with a shudder, unable to say the words.

Manolo, acting on an impulse, reaches over to pull his friend in for a soothing hug.

"It's alright, _mi amigo_... both of us are here and safe..."

"B-b-but the things I said! If you never came back, that would've been the last thing you ever heard from me!" Manolo cringed, but Joaquin kept talking. "I'm so sorry! I'm so s-sorry!" Maria looked up at her husband demandingly.

_'NOT NOW' _Manolo mouthed to her, glancing down at their friend. She softened, and decided that if her boys made up, then there was nothing she needed to worry about.

...

...

Joaquin woke up the next morning buried within the arms of a sleeping Manolo, his head laying on Manolo's stomach.

_'W-w-w-w-w-WHAT?!' _was the first thought to run through his head.

_'What on earth _happened _last night?!' _was the second.

_'...this feels... nice.' _was his third.

Maria was laying down on the other side of Manolo, hugging his arm like a teddy bear, sleeping alongside her husband.

_'I... I think I should go...' _Joaquin's fourth thought, as he slowly eased his way out of his friend's hold on him.

"Joaquin..." two sleepy voices spoke in unison. "Don't even _think _about it..."

"B-b-b-but... you guys are married!"

"So?" Maria yawned. "Haven't you heard of polygamy?"

"I thought you were raised in a Catholic nunnery!"

"Didn't really care for following rules... you should know that, spending so much time with me as kids."

"And you're okay with me and Manolo?!"

"Didn't we already go over that?" Manolo asked his wife sleepily. "Yes, to answer your question, she's okay with it. We were talking last night after you fell back asleep, and... well... we realized that A: Maria loves you still, as much as she loves me, and B: I love you the same way." Joaquin was stunned silent. "...you're not saying much..."

"I-I-I-I-I-"

"Aw, I think he's finally gone speechless!" Maria teased. Manolo sighed worriedly.

"Joaquin..." The brawny man stopped talking and looked up at his best friend. "Are you okay with this? If not, I can back down now before things just get too-MMPH!" Manolo stopped talking, due to the pair of lips that captured his own mid-sentence. Maria, meanwhile, was staring at the two with the biggest grin you'd ever see. Joaquin broke the kiss, and smiled at Manolo lovingly.

"I've been waiting to do that ever since that bullfighting match." Manolo blinked.

"Why then?"

"Besides seeing you taunt the bull with that confident smirk of yours all the while? ...I kinda... saw you in the arena after everyone else left..." he admitted sheepishly.

"I did too! I was standing in the balcony reserved for me and _papa_, and I heard you play... something about you being a creep?" Manolo swallowed nervously.

"Y-y-you guys saw _that_?!" He was mortified; _no one _was supposed to see _that_! Both Joaquin and Maria laughed at his expression._  
><em>

"Don't worry, darling; it was beautiful, if it makes you feel any better." (2)

...

_"They WHAT?!" the five kids asked in shock._

_"There's nothing wrong with loving more than one person, or loving a person of the same gender!" La Muerte defended._

_"No no no! That's not what we're saying! It's just so CUTE!" Nora squealed._

_"So Joaquin and Manolo _both_ ended up with Maria in the end!" Zeke gaped. He mimed his brain exploding to emphasize his shock, and La Muerte laughed._

_"Yes, it is quite the little twist, once you think about it..."_

_"So then, which of you won the bet?" Jay asked, interested._

_"We've decided to just... ignore that bet," Xibalba stated sheepishly. "Both outcomes came true, so the bet was null. We have not switched realms, and I can still interfere with mortals, if I so choose."_

_"He doesn't anymore, actually. He's become a new man!" Both gods laughed at the statement, hinting that they knew something the others didn't._

...

...

...

La Muerta nearly squealed like a schoolgirl when she saw the three together.

"They are just so _precious _together!" she crooned to herself.

"My dear, what are you going on about- ...oh."

"Have you noticed it yet?" she asked. Xibalba cocked his head, silently asking for clarification. "The pull, darling, _the pull_." Xibalba's mouth formed an 'o' from surprise.

"The girl... she is yours?"

"Yes. And my 'champion' is most likely yours." Xibalba scoffed in contempt.

"_Him_? Don't make me laugh; it'd sooner be mine than yours..."

"And yet you did not strike him down when he threatened you, or challenged you. And, besides the answer most likely being the pull, you and I both know the real reason you favor him now." Xibalba growled.

"We _swore _we'd leave that subject alone! All three of us swore!"

"No... as I recall, you made us 'promise' to never again speak about your_ hobby_."

"WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT IT?!" Xibalba roared. La Muerta scoffed lightly.

"Trust me when I say this, Balby: those three will be yours, mine, and his, respectively, so I suggest you keep a close eye on Manolo over the next few years, to make sure nothing happens to him. You remember the Candle Maker's one rule about this: only those with existing life will be allowed to transcend. And he if dies before the year is up..." Xibalba shuddered at the mere thought of the chaos.

"I understand, dear... shall we tell _him_ about our discovery?"

"I think he deserves to know." With that, the couple disappeared to the realm of their objective.

...

..

.

_(One month later...)_

Joaquin walked with his loves, smiling over their playful dynamic with each other.

Since the death of Chakal, the crime rate within Mexico had dropped to almost zero within days. Without the threat of the practically-indestructible monster, the other towns were able to keep the rest of the rabble in check with their own soldiers, allowing Joaquin to stay in San Angel without worry.

Not that he would ever leave after _that _whole fiasco...

Manolo plucked at his guitar as they walked; his fingers expertly danced along the strings without him really even thinking about it, playing some random yet pleasant tune. Maria aimlessly meandered through the street, avoiding obstacles as she seemed to dance to Manolo's music. Joaquin just followed the two, smiling; he didn't feel like walking with them right now, but he'd never let them out of his sight again. Chuy was trotting alongside Maria, oinking happily at the pleasant day. Joaquin couldn't help but notice the pig seemed to always end up on the side of her opposite Manolo, almost as if the pig was... avoiding him.

He had been noticing little signs like that around Manolo recently. Little things that could be passed over if you hadn't looked closely.

Animals, who used to welcome Manolo and his music, seemed to shy away from him for a moment.

Manolo himself seemed to smile less when Maria wasn't present with them.

Manolo's music would catch a sour note here and there, or sometimes turn from bright and cheerful to... dark.

Joaquin wouldn't even notice these little things if it wasn't for that storm two weeks ago. The three had been huddled together in Manolo's house, waiting out the rain and lightning with Manolo's music. Maria and Joaquin sat on either side of him, content to listen and not speak. Manolo was facing Maria for a moment, then turned to Joaquin... and that was when it happened.

A bolt of lightning lit up the room, and Manolo had been replaced with a skeleton with glowing red eyes.

Joaquin yelped and tumbled backward to get away form the sight, cutting off Manolo's music.

"Joaquin! _Amor_, are you alright?"

"M-Maria... did you see that?" Joaquin stuttered. Maria frowned in confusion.

"See what, _mi amor_?" Joaquin looked up from his place on the floor to see Manolo looking exactly like he used to; no bones, no glowing eyes.

"N-n-nothing..." He couldn't meet Manolo's eyes. Joaquin picked himself up off the floor and walked out of the room, Maria and Manolo watching him with concern and hurt.

...

_"Is this something to do with Manolo dying?" Susie asked sadly._

_"Unfortunately, yes... No man could ever travel to hell and back and not be affected in some way..." Xibalba said._

...

Ever since then, he had been watching his boyfriend closely, and began to notice the little things that were... off; there was no other way to describe it. Manolo dying seemed to have changed something within him, even if he still looked the same. Maria turned around to look at her boyfriends, who ended up quite a ways behind her.

"You two are falling behind!" she called. Blushing, they both jogged slightly to catch back up to her. As they ran, Joaquin noticed her smile fade the more she watched Manolo. "Manolo... are you feeling okay? You look a little pale..." Manolo frowned.

"I... feel perfectly fine... Joaquin, do you see something?" Manolo turned to his friend, and Joaquin yelped in shock. "What? What is it?!"

Manolo's irises had turned a pure scarlet.

Joaquin slowly pulled out a sword, trying not to scare the two, but they backed away regardless.

"I'm not going to hurt you... you just need to look at this..." He faced the flat of the blade to his friend, so that it would act like a mirror, and Manolo shouted in fear.

"W-what?! What was that?!" Joaquin slowly shook his head in confusion.

"I have no idea..." Maria, not knowing what was going on, turned her husband around to look in his eyes and froze when she saw them.

"What the hell?!" she shouted. Joaquin circled around so that Manolo was facing the two of them at the same time.

"Is this a side-effect of dying?" he asked his boyfriend worriedly. Manolo shook his head, at a complete loss.

"Xibalba and La Muerte never mentioned any of this..." Joaquin looked around, noticing the three were drawing a crowd of civilians. He grabbed the hands of his loves, and led them out of the town.

"We need to talk about this... _privately_."

...

...

"The one with the mustache?" La Muerte and Xibalba nodded. Their companion hummed in thought. "Yes... I feel it within him. He is the one for me." La Muerte gave her husband a triumphant smirk. "But... he's not ready."

"What do you mean?" Xibalba asked. Even he would be concerned about something like this.

"The boy has the heart... but if he transcended now, he would not be able to keep his emotions in check. War would break out in mere minutes, and endless conflict would ravage the earth." La Muerte gasped, knowing what consequences that would have for those in the Land of the Remembered.

"Then... all the dead would be unable to be remembered!" The figure with her nodded.

"I am afraid so, _mi rosa azucarados_... And Xibalba, your kingdom would fill to the brim within days." Xibalba frowned worriedly.

"That... would not be good."

"Indeed. Honestly, I feel the other two are not quite ready yet either. If they were to bear the emotions we are cursed with as they are now... we'd doom the world." His eyes suddenly snapped to the one with the guitar, who was staring at his reflection within his Chosen's blade. "What is going on? They are concerned about something... something to do with Xibalba's Chosen..." His companions turned their attention to the trio.

"His eyes... why are they red?" Xibalba asked with shock.

"Red?!" La Muerte gasped. The third god swore under his breath.

"We need to confront them about this, now." He turned into a ball of fire, and followed the path the trio took out of San Angel, Xibalba and La Muerte close behind him.

...

...

"What did I tell you? Adorable, no?" La Muerte gushed. The three mortals in front of her merely gaped at the sudden visitors. They were sitting beneath the tree both Maria and Manolo died under, worriedly discussing what exactly was happening to Manolo.

"Yes, yes, my dear, now can we just get to the whole point of this?!" Xibalba groaned.

"Patience, my friends. We are not here to cite hostility." The third figure was new to the three humans, having never seen him before, much less in the company of these two. He seemed to be made of copper, which glowed with heat. His clothing was the style of an aztec warrior, colored blood red and black. On his head, he wore a hood shaped to look like an eagle's head, except it was a skull. Other than that, he had a similar enough appearance in that he was a skeleton like La Muerte and Xibalba, except his eyes glowed a crimson color.

Manolo stood first.

"I... welcome you to San Angel, my lords. But... what exactly is the nature of this... visit?"

"I believe introductions are in order first. My name is Valentio(3); ruler of the Land of the Valorous."

"What is the Land of the Valorous? The Candle Maker never mentioned the other worlds..."

"All who exist there died in battle, and do not need to be remembered to stay out of the Land of the Forgotten. (Xibalba grumbled for a moment, but a look from Valentio shut him up) However, my land does not have the same joy in it of the Land of the Remembered; rather, there is constant war in my land." Joaquin winced slightly.

"That's a little harsh, isn't it?" Valentio could only shrug.

"That is the price of falling in combat: endless war. Granted, there is some leniency in that a warrior may rise to the Land of the Remembered or fall into the Land of the Forgotten... but that's unimportant for now. We are here to discuss what happens to you three."

"Us? You've already bet our happiness since we were little kids; what more could you possibly take?!" Maria demanded.

"Your mortality." Three jaws slowly sank to the floor in shock. "I should explain, no? You see, gods are immortal in that we can never die... at least not for a very long time. Unfortunately, the three of us are nearing the end of ours."

"Wait, you're dying?!" Manolo asked.

"No... more like, fading from these worlds, never to return." La Muerta clarified.

"So... dying."

"No. We leave this world, and enter a new one in which we are never allowed to return!" Xibalba butted in.

"That's pretty much what dying is, you know."

"ANYWAYS: the gods always do this every few millennia or so, and when that happens, we have to choose a mortal to... replace us." La Muerte finished three humans stared at her in shock for several seconds.

"You want us..." Maria gestured to the three of them. "...to replace you three as _gods_?" La-+ Muerte nodded guiltily.

"We have no choice. Only a handful of humans on this earth are capable of replacing any of us, but we need three who already have an existing bond for this to work smoothly for you three."

"How so?" Manolo queried. Xibalba sighed, before making a chair out of buried bones to sit in. La Muerte and Valentio followed suit with marigolds and fire, respectively.

"You have been in our realms before, so you understand exactly what we go through every day. While in the Land of the Remembered, you probably felt unnecessarily happy for no reason whatsoever, no?" Manolo hesitantly nodded, remembering his unexpected joy, even though he had just died. "That's what the Land of the Remembered does to all within it: it amplifies the happiness within you to extreme levels. While the dead are not affected by it as much, we gods gain the full brunt of it all, due to us still having life within us. If we were to drop a human in there, for whatever reason, they would go insane with joy within seconds. When I had switched realms with La Muerte (he gained dirty looks from the others, but ignored them), there was a period of time where I slowly began to lose my grip on reality, to be honest... If you hadn't threatened me as you did, I might have lost it in there..." Xibalba admitted.

"There are similar effects within the Lands of the Forgotten and the Valorous; the Land of the Forgotten gives an overwhelming feeling of depression and loneliness, while the Land of the Valorous incites absolute rage and bloodlust." La Muerte explained. "The rage I felt at Xibalba cleared my mind enough to escape the depression, otherwise I might've befallen a similar fate as Xibalba..."

"Then why did you bet to switch realms if this is what would happen to you?!" Maria questioned. Xibalba and La Muerte shared an embarrassed look.

"Honestly? ...we forgot." Valentio seemed to stiffen for several seconds, before a column of fire burst up from his head.

**"YOU IDIOTS! YOU NEARLY DROVE YOURSELVES INTO MADNESS, SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU _FORGOT_?!"** La Muerte slapped his face, and he seemed to come back to his senses. "Ah, forgive me, _mis amigos_... I'm... struggling, recently, to say the least..."

"This is why we need our successors to have pre-existing bonds; the three of us complement each other in such a way that we maintain our sanity." La Muerte explained.

"It's almost like a scale that balances three ways..." Manolo murmured. La Muerte smiled warmly.

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Manolo."

"Wait! Does this explain why my eyes are turning red like this?!" Both La Muerte and Valentio turned to Xibalba, who shifted in his chair uncomfortably.

"It does... It seems as though you are...you are going to replace me."

...

..

.

"YOU'RE MANOLO?!" The five kids shouted in shock. Xibalba grinned with a trickster-like grin.

"Took you long enough to figure it out... Yep! I was Manolo!"

"... 'Was'? Does that mean you're Xibalba now?" Jay asked. Xibalba/Manolo shook his head.

"I'm both Xibalba and Manolo now. Sometimes, I favor one form over the other, which is why you saw me as my older disguise the last time you were here; I was favoring just Xibalba that day. Today, I feel more like Manolo... if that makes any sense. Luckily, no one else who works in the museum cares enough about the older disguise to care about whether or not he goes missing, and I end up being Manolo more anyways."

"So then..." The kids turned to La Muerte. "...you must be Maria!" She nodded with a smile, and transformed back into her 'tour-guide disguise', except that she looked just like Maria did.

"That's right. Me and Manolo have had a happy marriage for decades. Granted, there were some times where the two of us had our little... _difficulties_... but we've always gotten through it."

"Does that mean Joaquin became Valentio? Is he here too?"

"Joaquin did become Valentio, yes, and he's also the head of the police here in the city. He actually comes for a weekly visit to the museum right... about..."

"Hey you guys!"

"Now. Hello Joaquin!" Maria ran forward and leapt into her other husband's hug. He spun her around, both of them laughing as he did so, before they gave each other a quick kiss.

"What? Nothing for Manolo?" Joaquin smirked at his husband, who walked up to them during the two's greeting. He gave the man a kiss of his own, laughing at Manolo's blush when he pulled away.

"After all these years, I still make you go red whenever I do that!" Joaquin laughed. The smile on his face died the moment he saw the five kids watching them from the Book of Life's pedestal. "Ummm... Hi?"

"They already know _everything_." Maria said.

"Everything?"

"Everything."

"Even our... _history_?"

"They're reading from the Book of Life; of _course _they know!" Joaquin laughed awkwardly.

"Well now... this was _not _mentioned to me the last time I visited." Little Susie walked up to him, her innocent expression on her face tinged with sadness as she stared at the ever-present eye patch on his face.

"Does your eye still hurt?" Joaquin knelt down to her.

"Well... it does every once in a while... but then I think about the fact that I saved my husband and wife, and I realize this pain is _nothing_ compared to if I lost them." She smiled at him.

"I like you!"

"You're not so bad yourself... Now! Where are we in the story?" he asked, clapping his hands as he stood up.

"Well, they just figured out that Manolo is Xibalba, so we're in the middle of _that _day." Joaquin nodded in understanding.

"Not an easy thing to forget... I mean, seriously! We were just told that we were gonna become gods!"

"Imagine hearing that the god who had it out for you wanted you to replace him!" Manolo rebutted. "That wasn't exactly a good day for me..."

"Do you regret becoming a god?" Jay asked. Manolo scoffed.

"What, are you crazy? I haven't regretted it once!"

"Anyways..." Maria interrupted. "...we should get back to the story. I'd rather make sure you all get to your homes at a decent time, so that your parents don't worry about you." She briefly noticed the kids seemed to sadden for a moment, but they quickly covered it up. She glanced at her husbands, who nodded subtly to say the same thing

_'We saw it too.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Wow. What am I doing? I don't even know... I saw The Book of Life on Sunday (The Day of the Dead, coincidentally), and I could <em>not <em>get this pairing out of my head. THEN I read 'Apotheosis' by WallaceAndGromitGirl, and I couldn't help but imagine what would happen if Maria, Manolo, and Joaquin became gods.**

**This is the result of those musings.**

**A.N. Time!:**

**(1): Random names for the kids, so that I don't keep calling them 'that boy' or 'the blonde girl'**

**(2): I feel like this was crappy... just get through it, and we have more fluff where that came from**

**(3): Va-len-shi-oh**

**No idea how many chapters this will become, or whether or not this will be a two-shot or something... Just stay with it, and give OT3 Drabble ideas that you'd want to see 'Tres Leches' get into.**

**Until next time!**

**~_Kage Musha_ **


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